BMW has recalled more than 140,000 vehicles in China, less than a week after an expansion plan was criticised by the country’s environment ministry.

德国汽车制造商宝马(BMW)已宣布在中国召回逾14万辆汽车。不到一周以前，宝马的扩建计划遭到了中国环保部的批评。

The German carmaker’s China joint venture, BMW Brilliance, said the recall was voluntary and stemmed from a fault affecting the steering systems of 5-Series cars manufactured over the past four years.

华晨宝马(BMW Brilliance)表示，此次召回是厂家主动发起的，原因在于过去4年生产的宝马5系汽车的转向系统会受到一种缺陷的影响。华晨宝马是宝马在中国设立的合资企业。

“As soon as we found the defect, we reported it to the government,” said BMW Brilliance, which operates a factory in the northeastern industrial centre of Shenyang. Last week, the environment ministry refused to sign off the factory’s plans to double annual production capacity to 400,000 vehicles while also expanding an engine plant.

华晨宝马表示，“我们一发现这一缺陷，便立即汇报给了政府部门。”华晨宝马在中国东北工业重镇沈阳市运营一家生产厂。上周，中国环保部拒绝批准该厂将年产量翻一番至40万辆、并扩建一家发动机生产厂的计划。

The ministry criticised BMW Brilliance for submitting an “insufficient” environmental report and failing to meet government pollution reduction targets. BMW said the ministry “opinion” was not final and would not delay the Rmb9.23bn ($1.5bn) project.

中国环保部批评华晨宝马提交的环境影响报告“不够充分”，未能满足政府减少污染物排放的指标。宝马表示，环保部的“审批意见公示”并非最终决定，不会延迟其拟投资92.3亿元人民币（合15亿美元）的扩建计划。

BMW’s sales in China, its biggest market, rose 15 per cent in the first half of the year to 183,000 units. BMW Brilliance accounted for more than half of this total.

今年上半年，宝马在其全球最大市场中国的销量上升15%，至18.3万辆。华晨宝马的销量贡献了其中的一半以上。

Analysts said the recall, due to water corrosion from a faulty seal, appeared less serious than that issued by Volkswagen in March. “In terms of financial impact, it’s basically zero,” said Robin Zhu, a motor analyst at Bernstein Research.

分析师表示，此次召回系因一个密封件有缺陷，可能导致水腐蚀而引发，似乎没有3月份大众(Volkswagen)的召回那么严重。伯恩斯坦研究公司(Bernstein Research)汽车分析师Robin Zhu表示，“这次召回对宝马的财务影响基本为零。”